2013 US Nationals Senior Pairs SP

Surprised no one has posted about this yet! I guess it is midday on a Thursday...

I missed the first group but the second group was very entertaining. I thought it was three great skates!

Any way two groups down with Castelli and Shnapir not surprisingly well into the lead with 62.27. The looked a little tight to me, like they really wanted to make it a great event. I feel like they have been looser in the fall but they managed to go relatively clean here. It will be hard for any other team to pass them.

I also really like DeeDee Leng and Timothy LeDuc. Their style is so distinct and they had a lot of great speed. REALLY need to figure out that twist though. Their speed is something they'll have to learn how to harness and use to their advantage. You can tell at times it got away from them. Fabulous side-by-side toes, great positions in the side-by-side spin and I LOVED their footwork. They have some really unique moments in the choreography that I loved. I kind of thought they were underscored so I'll be interested to see the protocols. I hope they do well in the FS and get one or two international assignments.

I thought Zhang and Bartholomay also did a nice job. Their look is a little more classic. Is it their first season together? They seem like a new pair. A little slow through the moves but pretty clean. Zhang had a hand down of the salchows but they looked good otherwise.

^^ Thanks for getting it started. I thought Davis/ Ladwig and the rest of the early teams started out of the blocks really well and no major mistakes either. I think U.S. pairs look very promising overall. And the top favorites Castelli/ Shnapir did a fine job too. They certainly did not disappoint. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the field in the sp. Third group is in warm-up right now.

I think Zhang/ Bartholomay have been together for at least two seasons. Zhang used skate with Taylor Toth, who is now paired with Kiri Baga. Zhang and Toth did well in juniors but split up either before or after their senior debut I think. Hopefully, all the newly formed teams and more established teams will stay together for the long haul. There is indeed a lot of promise.

Ohhh, I thought that Donlan/ Speroff were low-balled with just the one fall by Andrew on the sbs triple. They didn't get deserved points for their superlative positions and artistry at all. They should at the least been in front of Lang/ LeDuc in my estimation.

Is no one else watching? Feel bad for Scimeca/ Knierim -- they should not let their mistakes discourage them, but use it for fuel to go out and perform much better in the fp. Also, too bad for Vise/ Baldwin. No matter your marks, it's always a better feeling to know you did your best.

Whoa, wait a minute. I guess Scimeca/ Knierim are new favorites. My Gosh, they did NOT skate better than the pairs they are in front of, especially with the mistakes they made. Donlan/ Speroff only had one fall == C/S had a bobble on the throw and both fell on their sbs jumps, and then they were a bit lackluster in the second half of the program. Wow!

I really like C/S and I thought if they skated well, they might make second place. But based on what they did, they should not be in third place. It's quite obvious some kind of political favoritism or TPTB harshly judging D/S season so far that had them being so lowballed for one mistake. Such total disregard for their above average lines, positions and presentation skills.

Okay, so Denney/ Frazier also had some errors and are in 4th place? Really unfair result for Donlan/ Speroff - they should at least be in 5th place behind D/F.